Conventional mail systems are widely used throughout the world to mail letters, parcels, or other items. Individuals can simply deposit their mailed items in a mailbox or give them to postal service personnel for delivery. For a reasonable price, items can be delivered across the country or even the world.
The postal system has provided great convenience for mailing items for over a hundred years. However, this system, though convenient, lacks significant security in identifying suspicious packages or tracking the individuals sending the packages and/or the package's origin.
Automated Postal Centers (“APC”) provide better security for tracking individuals that send items using them. For example, APCs accept payment through credit/debit card only and sometimes have cameras at the units for taking pictures of the individuals mailing the items.
However, it is believed that the APCs do not perform any visual security processing of the parcel being mailed. Furthermore, these systems are only implemented at APCs and are not at all a part of a regular postal mailbox.
Thus, it will be appreciated that there is a need for a mail system that provides enhanced security for the everyday user that mails items.
In certain example embodiments, a system is presented that enhances mail security and logistics. The system provides image capturing units to capture images of both the user and the items being mailed and tracks the items while maintaining some identity of the individual mailing the item. The system can perform facial recognition on the user and/or optical character recognition on the items being mailed in order to enhance the security of the mailing process.
In certain example embodiments, a mailbox for enabling enhanced security and logistics of mailing objects is provided. The mailbox has an object reception unit having an opening for receiving an object, an image capturing unit for capturing a first image of a user of the mailbox and for capturing a second image of the object, and an image processing unit for associating the first and second images with each other.
According to an aspect of certain example embodiments, improved logistical features are provided such that, for instance, mailing labels, barcodes, or other delivery information that have been at initially read by the camera(s) on the original mailbox can be retrieved at a plurality of “touch points” in the postal delivery system for substantially real-time or live tracking purposes. Using this and/or other information, the image(s) of the person(s) mailing the objects also may be retrieved.
Another aspect of certain example embodiments relates to a mail system for enabling enhanced security and logistics of mailing objects. The mail system has a central computer having a central database and a mailbox. The mailbox can have an object reception unit having an opening for receiving an object, an image capturing unit for capturing a first image of a user of the mailbox and for capturing a second image of the object, an image processing unit for associating the first and second images with each other, and a data relay unit for relaying the associated first and second images to the central computer. The first and second images can be linked together in the central database in the central computer.
In a non-limiting, example implementation the image capturing unit further includes a first image capturing device for capturing the first image of the user of the mailbox and a second image capturing device for capturing the second image of the object.
In another non-limiting, example implementation the second image capturing device is placed in the vicinity of the opening and captures the second image of the object when the object is being inserted into the opening.
In yet another non-limiting, example implementation the first image capturing device captures the first image of the user while simultaneously capturing the second image of the object with the second image capturing device.
The mail system may also have a facial recognition unit for recognizing a face of the user of the mailbox and an optical character recognition unit for converting images on the object into text data. The recognized face and the text data can be submitted to a security device for security processing.
In a non-limiting, example embodiment the object is flagged if the security device determines that there is a security issue with the object and/or with the user.
In another non-limiting, example embodiment the image capturing unit captures a first image of the object before the object is inserted into the mailbox and then captures a second image of the object as the object is being inserted into the mailbox. The first and second images can be compared to each other and flagged if there is a discrepancy between the first and second images.
Another aspect relates to a mail processing system. The mail processing system can have a first mailbox having a first opening of a first size, a second mailbox having a second opening of a second size, where the second size is different from the first size, a sorting unit for sorting objects inserted into the first and second mailboxes based on a size of the object, and a security device for performing security processing on the objects inserted into the mailboxes.
In a non-limiting, example embodiment the second mailbox is bigger in size than the first mailbox and the second size is bigger than the first size.
In another non-limiting, example embodiment the security device flags an object if it is inserted into an opening of a mailbox of a wrong size.
The features, aspects, and advantages described above may be combined in any suitable combination or sub-combination to realize yet further embodiments.